2/12/2020 – This was our first kimchi made with gochugaru by fermentation. It was inspired by the recipe here. Two weeks later we tasted it at room temperature. The radish has a nice firmness and good crunch. The heat is not intense at all and has an unusual flavor that is nice. It does not have a salty taste as expected.
| Ingredient | Grams | Calc % |
| Diakon Radish – Chopped 1/2″ cubes | 700 | 80.8% |
| 5 green onions – Sliced into 1″ long diagonal pieces | 96 | 11.1% |
| 1″ knob of ginger – Chopped into 1/8″+ pieces | 7 | 0.8% |
| 7 garlic cloves – Chopped into 1/8″+ pieces | 33 | 3.8% |
| 1/4 cup gochugaru | 30 | 3.5% |
| TOTAL | 866 | 100.0% |
| 5% curing salt – 4.4% sounded low as usually 6% of the main ingredient works for firm veggies. Decided to try 5% as this has all veggies and pepper. See note below. | 43.25 | |
| For comparison purposes – The Orig recipe calls for 2 Tbsp fine sea salt that weighted 38 grams or 4.4% | 38 | 4.4% |
NOTE: The percentages above were calculated using the weights of the volume of ingredients per the original recipe. The intent is to use them, round to a reasonable value in the next batch. The salt is a percentage of the total weight.
The amount of salt seemed like a lot when poured into all the veggies and gochugaru. Mixed it well with my hands, covered the bowl with plastic, and let sit to release the liquid for the brine.
About 4 hours later some liquid was at the bottom of the bowl. Put it into a quart jar to ferment. Lightly packed the now soft cubes with the mallet handle in several lifts. There were no air spaces and thick liquid to the top and around the glass weight. Only a few pieces did not fit.
